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We don't normally drink them.
However the other day, whilst driving, I had an overwhelming craving for coffee.
I gave in to my craving and pulled into McDonald's.
I purchased a cup of coffee for $3.
30.
This gave me a thought.
There are people I know who buy coffee like this every day.
They purchase it rather than make it at home or work.
Let's do the sums.
Let's say you purchased a McDonald's coffee every day of the week for a year at $3.
30.
This would be $832 a year.
If you purchased a 250 gram can of coffee (which makes 166 cups) you would spend $0.
0047 per cup.
Times this by 5 times a week.
Now you would only spend $12.
45.
Throw in $20 for electricity and water, now the amount is still only $32.
45.
This is a dollar saving of $799.
55 per year.
Or a percentage saving of 96 percent.
The clear outright winner to save you money is: International Roast.
But what we really need to think about here is the saving of $799.
What would you do with an extra $799 a year? Really think about this for a moment.
Let's look at what else we can challenge.
Newspaper vs the Internet Let's face it; everything in today's newspaper is also on the internet.
Classifieds, job adverts; international news, local news, weather updates and general articles are on various websites.
Plus they are normally updated hourly rather than 24 hourly.
Also you get the ability in most cases, to watch video footage to go along with the story.
Are you still buying your daily newspapers? That's $1.
30 down the drain every day.
Our advice is get organised on your computer.
Find 5 or 6 sites which have all your relevant interests and favourites on them.
Now forget buying the newspaper and save the money.
The cost for buying a $1.
30 newspaper each day of the year amounts to $474.
50.
As long as you already have internet access the cost of getting on the websites is zero.
Save the $474.
50 and put it towards something you really want.
The clear outright winner to save you money is: The Internet.
Bottled water vs Filtrated Water If our great grandparents knew that we now pay for water in a bottle, they might roll over in their graves.
However it now seems to be the in-thing to get a plastic bottle full of water at $2.
50.
As long as the sticker on the label looks like it came from either a mountain spring or tropical island waterfall, we don't feel so guilty.
Have you ever thought about purchasing a steel reusable bottle? Or buying a filtration system for your home kitchen tap.
We have done this and it does save you money in the long run.
If you are purchasing 5 bottles of water a week at $2.
50, you are spending $650 a year.
You can get a filtration system installed for around $295.
Add in $10 for a steel drink bottle.
It would take you around half a year to get the filtration system to pay for itself.
Plus the following year the full $650 is yours to keep.
This is much cheaper than buying daily bottled waters.
(**Be aware that every two years the filtration system will need a new filter.
This will cost you around $90**).
The clear outright winner to save you money is: A water filtration system.
Gym Aerobics vs DVD Aerobics Passing a gym the other day, we noticed an aerobic class that was overflowing.
People and limbs were moving everywhere.
Do you belong to a gym just for the aerobic class? If you have self discipline, give up the gym membership and start saving money.
Buy an aerobic DVD.
Clear some space in the lounge room and continue to get fit at a much cheaper price.
Sure you won't have the interaction with friends at the gym, or the loud music to get you pumped.
However, you won't have the gym membership fee to deal with every year.
A DVD should cost you no more than $30, while the average gym membership is around $600 a year.
The clear outright winner to save you money is: An aerobic DVD.
Takeaway vs Cheap Night Are you on a takeaway merry-go-round? Chicken, pizza, hamburgers, chicken, pizza, hamburgers etc.
etc.
If you are like most Australian households you would eat takeaway once a week.
This is 52 times a year.
For example if you have a family of four and you are spending $7 on average per person each week.
You are spending $1456 a year.
That's a lot of money.
Now we are not asking you to give up takeaway.
However what about, if just one week a month or twelve weeks a year you substituted takeaway for a cheap meal.
Say baked beans or spaghetti on toast.
The average cost for baked beans would be around $6 for a family of four.
That's a saving in that week of $22.
Times this by 12, and you have saved $264.
Sure the kids might not be happy about missing out on their favourite food.
However, if you explain it is only one week in the month.
And they will be back next week snacking down on their favourite foods.
This might help you win this war.
The clear outright winner to save you money is: Substituting one takeaway night a month for a cheap food night.
Free TV vs Pay TV Do you have Pay TV? If not, good.
However if you have been seduced by those extra pay channels, listen up.
On average Pay TV can cost around $60 a month or $720 a year.
Australia now has multiple digital channels for free which are available to everyone.
Let me ask you a question.
How often do you watch Pay TV every week? For example, do you watch 2 hours a night and 3 hours on the weekend? This is 16 hours a week or 64 hours a month.
If you are paying $60 a month in Pay TV costs, you are nearly paying $1 an hour to watch TV.
Imagine if your TV had a coin slot in it.
Each hour your TV stops working.
You need to put $1 in to watch a further hour.
You would soon think; wow this is costing me a fortune.
However this is what you are basically doing.
The clear outright winner to save you money is: Free TV, save yourself the $720 a year.
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